


Before You Came Into My Life...

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Drunken Confessions, Fluff, Karaoke, M/M, and a bit of accidental feels at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22644115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Before they got together Andrew spent a month pining after Lorenzo frequenting a karaoke bar and singing the same song week after week. After Alec hints at it, Andrew decides to let Lorenzo in on those long weeks with an encore performance.
Relationships: Lorenzo Rey/Andrew Underhill
Comments: 14
Kudos: 55
Collections: SHBingo





	Before You Came Into My Life...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatnerdemryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/gifts).



> For my Shadowhunters Bingo square: Drunken Confession

“You’re drunk, dear” Lorenzo states, reaching out to steady Andrew when he spins away from the pool table victoriously only to immediately lose his balance.

It isn’t an accusation, there’s no judgment there, he just wants Andrew to be aware because they’re out in public and there are quite a few other Shadowhunters around. And while there’s nothing wrong with throwing back a few drinks and unwinding in a public setting, Lorenzo has decades of experience embarrassing himself in front of people he must deal with professionally later.

“I am not,” Andrew states matter-of-factly.

“If you say so,” Lorenzo concedes, deciding it isn’t worth pushing.

“You’ll _know_ when I’m drunk,” Andrew continues conspiratorily.

“And how will I know that, Angel?” Lorenzo prompts.

“Mmmmm I’d tell you but _I’m not drunk_ ,” Andrew says, smirking victoriously.

Though it kills him not to try and pry the information out of him Lorenzo opts for a different tactic, waiting until Andrew excuses himself to go to the bathroom before making his way over to Alec.

“Andrew says I’ll ‘know when he’s drunk’. I don’t suppose you know what that means?” Lorenzo asks, trying to sound as casual as possible as if this were just a normal chat between friends and not an information-gathering mission.

To Lorenzo’s surprise, Alec snorts out a laugh. Andrew may not be drunk but Alec is, because he only ever snorts when he’s drunk, a fact he got from Magnus which comes in surprisingly handy just then. It looks like he’s going to get his answer after all.

“Oh, you mean you haven’t seen him hit embarrassing karaoke level?” Alec asks, shaking his head. “You’re in for a _treat_.”

Lorenzo’s eyes widen in genuine surprise. “Karaoke? He _sings_ when he’s drunk?”

“Oh yeah. And after he met you he had one song, in particular, he did, like, every Monday night we went to this mundane bar and he tried to get drunk enough to work up the courage to ask you--”

“ _THAT’S ENOUGH OF THAT,”_ Andrew cuts Alec off upon returning to hear what they’re talking about.

Alec winces but doesn’t actually look sorry. “Oh, was I not supposed to tell him that? Sorry. But if we all had to be subjected to Call M-”

“ _We’re leaving now, bye!”_ Andrew cuts in again, this time grabbing Lorenzo by the hand and pulling him away from Alec. Lorenzo, satisfied with what he found out, allows Andrew to lead him away, but not before mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ to Alec over his shoulder.

The rest of the night passes by without much fanfare - it’s late and they both stop drinking to sober up enough to avoid hangovers for the early morning they both have scheduled the next day, full of long institute meetings and trips to clients halfway across the world and back.

The day goes by excruciatingly slow until they’re both finally free for dinner. It seems like a normal enough date, except for the fact that Lorenzo continually orders refills for their drinks the moment Andrew’s is under halfway, so by the time he finishes there’s already another waiting.

Andrew, stressed and venting about some new recruit who nearly botched an entire mission and some kids who think he doesn’t know they sneak out at night, doesn’t even notice until the food is long gone and a 4th cocktail is being placed in front of him.

“Why don’t we go that bar you used to tell me about… you know, the mundane one you used to go to with Lightwood and the others once and a while?” Lorenzo suggests in a would-be casual tone, except even this close to drunk Andrew can tell something is suspect.

“You mean the ‘filthy hole in the wall full of tone-deaf drunks’?” Andrew questions, throwing the words Lorenzo once uttered the one time they _did_ try to go there, except the moment Lorenzo walked inside and got one look at the place he immediately convinced Andrew to go to the Hunter’s Moon instead.

“Yes, well, it’s time I broaden my horizons,” Lorenzo tries to recover.

Andrew squints at him suspiciously, eyes narrow, saying nothing while he holds Lorenzo’s gaze. And then-

“YOU’RE TRYING TO GET ME DRUNK!” The revelation hits Andrew and the words come out much too loudly for the small restaurant they’re in. Eyes turn their way and Lorenzo winces before shifting his features into a reassuring smile at the people dining around them.

“Keep your voice down,” Lorenzo whispers frantically.

“Not unless you admit it,” Andrew says, arms crossed.

“I most certainly will not-”

“Then I won’t agree to go.”

Lorenzo pauses in the middle of flagging the waiter down for the bill.

“What?” He asks, the word slow and careful.

“Admit this was your plan the entire time, and you’re trying to get me drunk and drag me to the karaoke bar because Alec ratted me out last night.” Andrew says this all very matter-of-factly before adding, “And then we can go.”

“Fine. I was trying to get you drunk to trick you into going to that bar on karaoke night,” Lorenzo sighs.

“You could’ve just asked, you know,” Andrew points out, frowning and looking hurt. Lorenzo can’t tell if it seems so exaggerated because it’s fake or because he is, in fact, drunk.

“Would you have said yes?” Lorenzo asks.

“Dunno,” Andrew admits. “Probably not. Your plan was better.”

Lorenzo slides several large bills on top of the check stands, reaching an arm out for Andrew to take, but Andrew shakes his head and grabs his cell out of his coat pocket on their way out, dialing as they walk.

“Alec? Alec! It’s me, Underhill!” A pause. “Right, of course, you know who I am.” Another pause. “Yes, I am, in fact, drunk. And guess what? It’s karaoke time. A final encore. Bring anyone who isn’t out saving lives or whatever.”

Lorenzo loves this side of Andrew - the side that comes through when he just lets go of all the tension he holds with the weight of his Shadowhunter responsibilities. It turns out that, outside of work, Andrew is actually rather ridiculous, but in the best, most endearing way. And not just when he’s drunk, though it’s certainly emphasized when he is. Andrew brings out a more carefree, lighthearted side of himself that he enjoys very much while he’s around.

It isn’t far from where they are - Lorenzo knows because he planned it this way - so they walk through the light snow that starts to fall. It’s the start of February, and cold, though there’s a flush to both of their cheeks from the alcohol they had at dinner.

When they step inside the bar - just as dingy and terrible as Lorenzo remembers - they’re greeted by calls, a few cheers, and even a clap or two.

Or, more specifically, _Andrew_ is greeted by those things.

“There he is!” “Told you he’d be back!” “If I have to hear that goddamn song one more time-” Most of it seems to be from the few employees there, but some of what have to be regulars at the bartop are clearly aware of Andrew as well. The bartender is a man who looks to be in his late 20’s, maybe early 30’s, with enough tattoos that the Shadowhunters wouldn’t look out of place if they came in here unglamoured and a mohawk that puts Bane’s to shame. It’s the last place he’d expect Andrew to have casual acquaintances, and the last sort of people he’d expect those acquaintances to be.

“Andrew!” The bartender says, smirking as he reaches under the counter and pops the cap off a beer without even asking before holding it out to him. “Thought we’d never see you again.”

Lorenzo watches it all in mild fascination, feeling a little like he’s entered some sort of parallel universe.

Andrew smiles, though for the first time since they left the restaurant it’s shy, almost hesitant. “Yes, well, things… happened. And then I had... _other things_ to do besides come here, fill up on liquid courage, and then not use any of it.”

The bartender, as if finally noticing Lorenzo standing just slightly behind Andrew, eyes the warlock up and down once. “Is this ‘ _Other Things_ ’?”

Andrew flushes, properly this time, and before either of them can say anything Alec and Jace come in through the door, huffing breaths of cold air, along with Simon, Isabelle, and Magnus. They crowd the bar for a round of drinks, Lorenzo orders a whiskey since he trusts nothing else.

Andrew, instead of drinking his beer, orders a shot and downs it in determination before turning back to Lorenzo.

“Please don’t break up with me for this,” Andrew says, placing a quick kiss on Lorenzo’s lips before spinning back around, grabbing the beer again, and making his way up to a microphone in the back corner of the bar.

“I’m sure you’ve all missed this every week,” he starts dramatically, and this time the cheers are much louder with the addition of Alec and the others. “As most of you know, I used to come here, drunk and pining, and what started off as a joke turned into a very, very sad tradition. However!” Andrew pauses dramatically to take a very long drink from his beer. “I got my call! And decided to retire with one last encore performance for the man who inspired it all.”

“You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?” Magnus asks, coming up behind Lorenzo.

Lorenzo wonders if, perhaps, he made a mistake encouraging this. “No turning back now.”

“Okay, but I just want to set the scene: it’s fall, the two of you met once, at my wedding, and then Andrew pined after you for _an entire month_ before you started going out. _An. Entire. Month._ Of us dealing with this because you didn’t talk to him again after the reception.” Magnus says.

“ _I was a little preoccupied--”_ Lorenzo tries to defend, but doesn’t get very far before the music starts up through the speakers: a fast beat, strings, maybe? And then-

_“I threw a wish in the well, don’t ask me I’ll never tell, I look to you as it fell, and now you’re in my way-”_

Andrew, if Lorenzo is being honest, does not have a voice meant for singing. He also doesn’t have a natural talent for dancing, and yet here he is, doing both in front of a room full of people. Lorenzo doesn’t recognize the song at all but it seems like someone one would hear on the radio these days, one of those Top 40 Pop songs he usually avoids. But it isn’t the music that catches his attention.

_“Hey, I just met you! And this is crazy! But here’s my number,_

_so call me maybe?”_

Complete with Andrew bringing his hand holding the beer up to his ear to mimic a cell phone, he sings the words over and over (and over and over, the song is very repetitive), and he gets a clear picture of why a drunk, pining Andrew might latch onto this particular song.

Lorenzo watches, not with the secondhand embarrassment he thought he might, but rather with a very intense fondness. He knew there was something there at the reception, obviously, but he had no idea Andrew was so taken with him from that one meeting. Not to this level. If he had…

_“You took your time with the call_

_I took no time with the fall”_

Well, if he had, he may not have waited so long to call him. He actually feels a little bad now, but it’s a feeling that fades quickly as Andrew sings some more, pointing at Lorenzo and flashing a smile at him that brings a warmth to his chest. Lorenzo remembers why they’re here - because Lorenzo wanted to see it, and Andrew wanted to make him happy, and he’ll be damned if he isn’t going to stand there and give his boyfriend the attention he deserves.

This is just a drunken performance to the rest of them, but Lorenzo sees it for what it really is: a confession. A confession of a month between them meeting and Lorenzo calling him up for drinks. A month Lorenzo barely thought twice about, and though he never mentioned it that clearly wasn’t the same way Andrew had spent that month.

_“Before you came into my life I missed you so bad, and you should know that… so call me maybe.”_

The music ends and applause follows. Andrew gives a very exaggerated bow, and then another, before replacing the microphone to its stand and making his way back to Lorenzo.

“An entire month of that, eh?” Lorenzo asks, immediately sliding his arm around Andrew’s waist to pull him in. “Our first meeting meant that much to you?”

“ _You_ meant that much to me,” Andrew says, allowing Lorenzo to pull him closer until there wasn’t any space left between them. “Still do.”

Lorenzo melts a little at the confession. “You mean that much to me, too.”

“Are you going to dedicate a song to me too, then?” Andrew asks, swaying a bit back and forth where they stand as he asks.

Lorenzo laughs. “Mmmm, I don’t think I know anything they’d have here. But I could give you a more _private_ performance that might convince you,” Lorenzo says, deepening his voice to a low whisper in Andrew’s ear.

Andrew steps back immediately. “Well, that was fun, but we have to get going now,” Andrew says to the others in a rush, already pulling at Lorenzo’s hand to follow him towards the door. “Hope you enjoyed the show!”

Lorenzo gives their confused looks an unconvincing shrug before following, opening a portal the second they round the corner to the alley next door. Andrew turns around and goes through the portal backward, hands reaching out to pull Lorenzo in for a searing kiss, trusting him to take them exactly where they need to be without even looking.

Andrew, who waited for him to come around. Andrew, who keeps him humble and grounded and happy. Andrew, who is everything he’s been missing in his life for so long and never realized.

As they tumble out of the portal and directly onto their bed Lorenzo is grateful for the love he sees in Andrew’s sparkling eyes - and there’s no ‘maybe’ about how thankful Lorenzo is that he has Andrew in his life now.

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone somehow unaware, the song Underhill sang is "Call Me Maybe" By Carly Rae Jepsen. 
> 
> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


End file.
